Positive Example

May 13, 1985|The Morning Call

To the Editor:

The rantings and ravings of Mr. Reagan and his cohorts against Nicaragua lead one to wonder what on earth they find so threatening about that tiny, impoverished nation. With a population less than that of the City of Philadelphia, Nicaragua hardly poses a military threat to the mighty U.S., the most heavily armed country in human history.

The Reagan crowd calls the Sandinistas "communists" and insists they are turning their country into a Soviet satellite state. In fact, the Sandinistas pride themselves on the "experimental" nature of their revolution and have turned to many sources for ideas. Moreover, the crucial role played by priests and lay Christian leaders in both the revolution and the current government show that its roots are deeply Christian. Sure the Sandinistas have received aid from Russia. But even more has come from nations in Western Europe. Undoubtedly, they will accept aid from any sympathetic source.

The only real threat posed by Nicaragua to the U.S. is the positive example it provides for other poor nations. The success of the Sandinista movement has renewed the hopes of similar movements for justice inEl Salvador and Guatemala, where conditions are even worse than they were in Somoza's Nicaragua. The U.S. power elite appears quite frightened by the winds of change that are blowing throughout the region, and sees destruction of revolutionary Nicaragua as one way to turn back the tide.

The steady increase in wealth for rich Americans depends on their having easy access to cheap raw materials and cheap labor. The availability of cheap resources in poor nations helps keep in check demands for higher wages by workers in this country. This is why for generations the American economic elite has exercised its political clout to have our tax money and our military forces used to suppress revolutionary movements in places like Nicaragua. We ordinary Americans ought to recognize that our best interests lie in nurturing the kind of grass-roots democracy which has sprung to life throughout Central America in recent years and pray that it will grow and flourish there and in our own land as well.